Tue, 21 Jun 2011, 10:42 PM It's Out Of My Hands

By Bob Frey Photo copyright 2011 Auto Imagery, Inc.

As you may or may not know, my definition of a "good race" is one that ends on the day it is supposed to end. With that in mind, the 11^th running of the Ford Thunder Valley Nationals just barely qualifies as a good race. If everything that took place once we did get started, after a lengthy rain-delay, had happened on the original schedule, the race could have gone in the books as the best ever at Bristol. There were some great runs, some stunning upsets, and unfortunately there were also some wild accidents and some very good final rounds. Ok, so one very good final round and a pair that had the potential to not only be good but history making. In the end it was a good race but I'll always wonder about what could have been if we had a few hours of dry weather early in the day on Sunday...Around the backdrop of the racing we had the specter of Jeff Byrd hovering over "Thunder Valley" all weekend long and that made us all stop and think about how lucky we are just to have known Jeff and to be enjoying an activity that he and all of us really enjoy. In the brief pre-race ceremony Jeff was honored by being inducted in the Bristol Hall of Fame and his name was put on the building along with some of the other greats who have made this track what it is. With Kenny Bernstein and Whit Bazemore saying a few words, the induction was a very touching moment indeed. Jeff's wife, Claudia, was there along with some of their family and that added to the solemnity of the moment....One thing that got cancelled because of the rain and the quick pre-race was a presentation from the sons of Shirl Greer. They were going to present a trophy in their dad's name to Mike Neff because Mike reminds the boys of some of the qualities that they saw in their father. There aren't a lot of guys who are the crew chiefs and the drivers these days, like Shirl was, and Mike was a worthy recipient of the honor. Too bad the boys didn't get a moment to make the presentation, but on behalf of Mike and his team I would like to thank them for thinking of the current drivers and for keeping their dad's memory alive.

Neff vs, Hight

Mike Neff had another good weekend as he aimed for his fifth final round in a row, however that dream ended in the semi-finals when Mike lost to his Team Force mate, Robert Hight. Robert, who has now won four races this year, beat Jack Beckman in the final round, and in the process he did something that he had never done before. Did you know that when Robert ran 314.90 mph in the final round he backed up his stunning 316.45 mph pass in the semi-finals and that gave him the national record for the first time in his career? As hard as it is for me to believe, Robert had never set a record, elapsed time or speed, prior to Sunday. True, he had made the quickest Funny Car runs at a quarter-mile and at 1,000 feet but he had never set the record. As good as the Auto Club Ford has been over the years I was shocked that this was Robert's first national record of any type. One of the times that he came close to setting the record was at the 2007 Winternationals. In the semi-finals he ran 4.664, which was the quickest run in the history of the class at the time. He then went into the final round where he crossed the center line and was disqualified in his race against Gary Scelzi, and to this day Robert is positive that he would have set the record if he just stayed in his lane. Don't believe me, just ask Robert about it the next time you see him. By the way, when Robert made that historic 4.664 run do you know who was in the

Hight vs. Arend

other lane? It was Jeff Arend. And who was in the other lane on Sunday when he made that 316.45 mph blast? You guessed it, Jeff Arend. What are the odds?....Robert's 4.047 in the semi-finals stood as low elapsed time for the weekend and that was the 42^nd time he has had the quickest car in the class. Did you know that ties Robert with Cruz Pedregon for third place on the all-time list? Only John Force (134) and Don Prudhomme (51) have more.....Robert's record not only was his first but it was the first in a real long time in Bristol. Of course I know that we have only been running there for eleven years since they rebuilt the track, but did you know that the only other time any fuel record was set in Thunder Valley was in 1966 when Vic Brown drove the legendary Creitz & Greer Top Fuel car to a 7.26 at the Division 2 race in Bristol....John Force is the only driver on the Team Force roster who has not won yet this year. John was the defending Bristol champ and he was trying to become the first Funny Car driver to win the race in

Scelzi vs.Hight at '07 WinterNationals.

consecutive years. That plan ended in round one when John lost to his arch-rival, Cruz Pedregon 4.103 - 4.190. Did you know that coming into that round John had beaten Cruz 57 times and that's more wins than John has against any other driver in his long history? Included in that total was a 13-5 edge in round-one matches, but Cruz proved that history doesn't mean anything in drag racing, didn't he? John's loss was his second consecutive loss in round one and the fourth time in nine races this year that he hasn't made it out of round one. Like I said, nothing that happened in the past means anything when you pull to the line for your next run and I look for John to rebound this weekend in Norwalk....Cruz had another good outing, one that ended when he couldn't make the call for the semi-final round. After having a tire punctured in round one and a big fire in round two, Cruz and his Snap-On Tools team just ran out of time and were shut off on the line before they could race

Tasca was No. 1.

against Jack Beckman. With the bad weather and the late start the teams were given less time between rounds than they would normally have and it caught up with Cruz after the fire. Still, he continues to run well and he is solidly in fourth place in the standings and he will be a factor at every race this year....Bob Tasca was the top qualifier and he ran some very impressive numbers including a career best 4.056 - 314.31 that earned him the top spot. Did you know that this was the second top qualifying effort for Bob? He was also number one at Gainesville in 2009? But being number one at Bristol is not a guarantee of success as Bob found out. Did you know that in the eleven years of this race the top Funny Car qualifier has never won the race? In fact, the number one guy has only made it to the final round twice in the Funny Car class at Bristol. Even though he didn't win Bob did earn enough points to move past John and into seventh place in the standings and the team has to be pleased with the numbers they put on the board in Tennessee.

Erica Enders

Speaking of numbers, Erica Enders got enough numbers in the fan voting to earn the last spot on the K&N Horsepower Challenge that will be contested this weekend in Norwalk. Her appearance will be just another part of the history that she is making in the Pro Stock class. She almost made more history when she had a chance to win the race in Bristol, but when her ZaZa Energy Chevrolet shook the tires in second gear all she could do was watch Mike Edwards win for the third consecutive year in Bristol. Did you know that Erica won her second and third round races on holeshots? She beat Ron Krisher in round two and the top qualifier, Allen Johnson, in the semi-finals and that gave her a shot at her first Pro Stock win. It also gave us a chance to witness history since Melanie Troxel (Pro Mod) and Jenifer White (Top Dragster) had already won, so we had a chance to have three women winners at one race. In the end we had two women win and that's the eleventh time in NHRA history that has happened....There has been a lot of talk about the Pro Stock

Edwards celebrates win.

class this year, about how competitive it is and about how well some drivers are doing, but up until now very few people have been talking about Mike Edwards. Well, they'll start talking about him now. Mike's win, his second of the year, propelled him to second in the points and it looks like the Penhall team will be a title contender again this year. Did you know that Mike becomes just the second Pro Stock driver this year to win more than one race? Jason Line, the point's leader, has three wins and Mike has two, and if one of them won the championship this year it wouldn't surprise anyone. Jason, by the way, is the top qualifier for the "Challenge" this week and that means he'll face Erica in round one....Mike's third win in Bristol is the most for him at any event and it ties him with the three he has at both Houston and Seattle....Allen Johnson had a really good race car, one that looked like it could take the Tennessee native to a win on Sunday, but the semi-final loss to Erica ended that dream. He was the top qualifier and that's the 16^th time in his career he has done that and the second consecutive time he has done it in Bristol. Did you know that Allen has won twice from the top spot and both of them were at the Mopar sponsored race in Denver? He has a very

Greg Anderson

strong car and he'll be a factor in both the regular race and the K&N event this weekend....Even though he didn't win AJ did set top speed and that's getting to be a habit with him. Did you know that Allen has had the fastest car on the property eleven times in the last twenty-five races?....The fact that he didn't win from the top spot shouldn't bother Allen because not many of the Pro Stock drivers who have qualified number one have won lately. Did you know that the top qualifier has won just one time in the last sixteen races in Pro Stock? What's up with that?...Greg Anderson won two rounds and that gives him 498 for his career. Did you know that is tenth best in all of the Full Throttle classes and fourth best in the history of Pro Stock?

Dixon celebrates win.

In last week's column I said that "one of the non-winners on tour" would win in Top Fuel in Bristol, and by golly that's exactly what happened. Larry Dixon, who makes a living winning on Father's Day, did it again and that's his first win of the year. Larry now goes to Norwalk where he has won the last two years... Going into Bristol neither Larry nor John Force, the 2010 champions, had won a race and neither had Tony Schumacher nor Matt Hagan, the second-place finishers last year. Did you know that in the history of the sport this was the first year where either the champs or the runner-ups had gone eight races into the season without a win?....Larry becomes the fifth driver to win this year and that equals the total for the entire 2010 season in Top Fuel.....There was a rare, a very rare occurrence in the opening round of Top Fuel. Four drivers, count 'em, four, turned the exact same elapsed time, 3.883 and that almost never happens. In fact, did you know that in Top Fuel it has never happened before in a 16-car field? At the 1970 Supernationals, which featured a 32-car field, four drivers, Al McPherson, Richard Tharp, Tony Nancy and Butch Maas all ran 6.840 in the first

Karamesines at '90 Maple Grove.

round and that's the only time it has ever happened in the dragster class. It has happened five times in Pro Stock and once in Funny Car, and when you consider the fact that there have been over 2,000 races in those three classes combined, I think you'll agree that it is very rare indeed.....Another rare happening was Chris Karamesines winning a round. Did you know that the last time the "Greek" went past round one was at Maple Grove in 1990? Of course he doesn't run every race every year, but still, 1990 is a long time ago. Did you know that the most races Chris has entered in one year since 1990 was the seventeen that he ran in 2002? There were also five years between 1990 and now where he didn't enter a single race. As a race fan I think it was very cool to see him win in Bristol and I know that the fans gave him a great round of applause when he came up for his second-round race with Antron Brown. Way to go "Greek."....When I spoke to Larry after the win and brought up that Father's Day thing he just looked at me, smiled and said, "Hey, it's out of my hands," an obvious reference to the fact that even he can't explain his success on that one day of the year....Brandon Bernstein was the top qualifier and that was the 14^th time of his career that he has done that and the first time since Memphis in 2008. Like AJ in Pro Stock, did you know that Brandon has won twice from the top spot with the last one coming in 2004? Even though he didn't win, I will say the same thing about the Copart team that I said about Bob Tasca, and that is that Brandon ran very well and he will win before too many more races go by. The blue car had a great couple of days in qualifying and Don Bender, Todd Smith and the rest of the "blue crew" have "BB" running very well right now....Top Fuel is a lot of fun to watch right now with a lot of competitive teams and some very good drivers including one who made his first appearance in Bristol. Austin Lambright made his TF debut and he looked good in the process. Austin is driving the second Amalie car for Terry McMillen and we can expect to see Austin at a few more races before the end of the year.

Burgess hit the wall hard. Photo by Mark Rebilas

The Get Screened America Pro Mod cars provided some wild action for the Bristol fans. Unfortunately that "wild" action included a couple of accidents, one featuring Rickie Smith and another featuring Roger Burgess. Both incidents were spectacular, especially Roger's, and it was good to see that all of the drivers involved got out with either minor or no injuries.....Melanie's win over Danny Rowe was her second on the Pro Mod tour and her second win at Bristol with the other one being her Funny Car win in 2008. Anytime she wins the fans go wild and that's another thing that's good for the sport...The Nitro Harleys were also in Bristol and Ray Price's bike, the one ridden by Tommy Grimes, was the big winner. I spoke with Ray and he is in great spirits and that's good to know since he had the really nasty fall a few years ago that damaged his left arm very badly. Ray is one the real class acts in our sport and it's always nice to get to spend some time with him.

As I mentioned there were two women who won in Bristol and one of them was Jenifer White. I'll have a story on her in a week or so but I should point out that she was just one of several women who were competing at the race and most of them were in the Top Dragster category. There were about a half-dozen women in the class and that's a bunch and it's also good for the sport.....Dan Fletcher came close again to the magic double-up, but like his previous seven attempts, he won one and lost the other. Still, that's 73 wins for Dan and that's more than all but six drivers in the history of the sport. Congrats to Dan....Tommy Phillips was another winner and for the Texas native that's eleven wins in Super Gas. Did you know that is the third most in the class behind Mike Ferderer (14) and Sheldon Gecker (12)?

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